in knowledge transfer time
Archrock transforms technician training with AI-powered support
Leading energy infrastructure provider leverages Axonify’s innovative platform
to enhance technician skills, reduce downtime and build a greener future.
94%
reduction
$300k+
in annual savings
90%+
utilization
across the company
Challenges
When your employees are working in the field, the last thing they want to think about is training. But when you’re dealing with mission-critical infrastructure like natural gas pipelines, training can mean the difference between a smooth operation and costly downtime.
Remote frontline success requires a blended training strategy
It’s a challenge that the leadership team at Houston-based Archrock knows well. The energy infrastructure company has over 80% of its workforce working in frontline roles. Many of these frontline employees work in rural and remote locations, making access to training more difficult.
“In the past we relied only on traditional instructor-led training: classroom setting, long days, even longer PowerPoints. We tried using Oracle’s learning management system (LMS), but it was too clunky for what we needed for a lean organization with field technicians.”
High-cost, time-consuming training bottlenecks
Paduano said the company would spend $50,000 to $70,000 to create and deploy a training to its technicians. With five to six high-priority trainings conducted each year, the company was spending high dollars without getting the results.
“Conducting a needs analysis and building the training content would take a few months, but then the delivery involved weeks out of the field due to travel and attendance. That meant potential revenue loss and downtime for customers when technicians were off the equipment.”
Dealing with urgent issues in the field, technicians would also miss training, adding to knowledge gaps across Archrock’s workforce.
“We had some service areas with limited technicians, so in the past this made it harder to be able to attend training because they don’t have enough resources to cover while they travel to attend a whole day of training,” said Paduano.
Solution
Delivering training that
fits the field
Axonify helped reinforce the company’s foundational training program—a two-week, instructor-led field operations course that all new service technicians complete.
While hands-on training remains essential at Archrock for building practical experience, Axonify complements those efforts by reinforcing key concepts, accelerating knowledge transfer and providing technicians with ongoing access to critical information long after formal training ends.
The platform also laid the groundwork for longer-term growth. With progress tracking and personalized learning paths, Archrock is using Axonify not just for compliance, but to drive ongoing development and help technicians build career momentum from day one.
Driving engagement
with gamification
When Archrock launched Axonify in 2020, adoption among its field technicians was high but then it skyrocketed. A big part of our early success came from Axonify’s built-in gamification features. Paduano said the ability to earn points and track progress transformed training into something the technicians looked forward to rather than another task to complete.
“Now they pop open the app during their lunch break to do the lessons,” he added.
“We had a 100% completion rate within weeks and zero downtime. It was great and a huge success.”
Equipping techs with smarter tools in the field
Archrock’s training transformation didn’t stop with mobile access and better content delivery. As field teams became more engaged, the company began looking for ways to give technicians instant access to knowledge in the moments they needed it most.
That’s when they turned to Max, Axonify’s AI-powered support tool.
“We were looking for a way to help the technician in real time when the unit is down. Then we found Max,” he said.
Now, when a technician receives a call about a unit with a downtime code, they have the option to use Max to enter that code and instantly pull up possible causes and recommended fixes, all from their office or home before they start rolling a truck to the unit.
“That way, they’re not walking in to a site blind,” Paduano explained. “They can bring the parts they need and have a game plan before they walk on site.”
Even in areas without internet access, technicians can download documents, and Max can help on the go. If the issue changes or new codes appear, the technician can ask Max and get the answer they need to troubleshoot in real time.
“Instead of being a part changer, we’re building problem solvers,” said Paduano. “Not everyone needs to be a master tech anymore and we can focus our master technician’s efforts where they are needed most.”
“Now they pop open the app during their lunch break to do the lessons. We had a 100% completion rate within weeks and zero downtime. It was great and a huge success.”
Jeffrey Paduano, Multimedia & eLearning Manager, Archrock
Results
Archrock’s investment in training with Axonify is delivering measurable impact across the company.
Microlessons slash costs
and downtime
By supplementing focused hands-on training with mobile microlessons, they’ve dramatically improved efficiency, reduced downtime and equipped technicians to keep learning without leaving the field.
The financial impact has been just as significant. Previously, it could cost up to $70,000 to create and deliver a single high-priority training topic. With Axonify, that same training can now be developed and delivered for a fraction of the cost, saving the company more than $300,000 annually.
In one instance, Max helped a technician identify a $5 sensor as the problem, rather than replacing a $50,000 starter unit.
Axonify rises to a top-rated
employee benefit
And it’s not just the business that’s benefiting. Archrock’s technicians are also noticing the difference. In a recent internal Gallup survey measuring employee sentiment across 50 company benefits, Axonify ranked near the top.
“We recently did a Gallup survey to rank our benefits and Axonify ranked number six out of 50 different benefits,” said Paduano. “Topping out the 401(k) match, insurance, and other benefits. They cared a lot more about the Axonify rewards.”
By putting engaging, accessible training into the hands of its remote field workforce, Archrock isn’t just closing knowledge gaps; it is opening doors to new opportunities for all its employees.
Improving compliance
Archrock also saw another benefit from deploying Axonify to its team that goes beyond dollars and cents. After deploying Axonify, Archrock achieved 100% completion with its safety compliance training each month.
“Some employees did not complete the full safety training in the 12-month period because they could not make it to a location on time,” Paduano said. “With Axonify, once we deployed it, no one has missed the safety training.”
Before deploying Max, a technical group in Archrock engaged a consultant agency to build a large language model (LLM) for the same use cases Max is solving.
“When we presented Max to the business, the reaction was immediate—they could see how quickly it delivered results, how seamlessly teams adopted it, and that the deployment was significantly more cost-effective than building a custom solution. It really highlighted the value Axonify brought compared to the complexity of developing and maintaining our own model,” he said.
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